Portable yarn handling device

ABSTRACT

A portable yarn handling device for entangling a moving cabinet yarn end with a moving tow and for severing the cabinet yarn end at the same time as and closely adjacent the entanglement; and the method for entangling a moving cabinet yarn end with a moving tow. The housing of the device has a shear slot and an entangling slot, and a leg portion extending from the housing between the two slots to guide the cabinet yarn end around the leg portion and through each of the slots. The device is positioned over a moving tow with the two being received within the entangling slot closely adjacent the moving cabinet yarn end, and upon actuation by the operator holding the device, the moving cabinet yarn end is entangled with the tow by an air stream impinging upon the cabinet yarn end and the tow within the entangling slot and is severed by a movable knife blade within the shear slot closely adjacent the location of the entanglement.

United States Patent hevington, .11.

[54] PORTABLE YARN HANDLING DEVICE [72] Inventor: Richard E. Bevington, Jr., Kingsport,

Tenn.

[73] Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester,

[22] Filed: Oct. 7, 1970 211 Appl. No.: 78,702

FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 956,992 4/1954 GreatBritain.. "gs/12, 211,

[ 1 Mar. M, 1072 183,155 9/1966 U.S.S.R. "28/7221 Primary Examiner-Louis 1K. Rimrodt Attorney-Cecil D. Quillen, Jr. and Malcolm G. Dunn [57] ABSTRACT A portable yarn handling device for entangling a moving cabinet yam end with a moving tow and for severing the cabinet yarn end at the same time as and closely adjacent the entanglement; and the method for e'ntangling a moving cabinet yarn end with a moving tow. The housing of the device has a shear slot and an entangling slot, and a leg portion extending from the housing between the two slots to guide the cabinet yarn end around the leg portion and through each of the slots. The device is positioned over a moving tow with the two being received within the entangling slot closely adjacent the moving cabinet yam end, and upon actuation by the operator holding the device, the moving cabinet yarn end is entangled with the tow by an air stream impinging upon the cabinet yarn end and the tow within the entangling slot and is severed by a movable knife blade within the shear slot closely adjacent the location of the entanglement.

9 Claims, 10 Drawing Figures PATENTEDMR 14 m2 SHEET 2 BF 6 RICHAR E BEVINGTON ,JR.

INVENTOR BY/WQ Z 9 -/QMW ATTORNEY PATENIEDMAR M I972 RICHARD E. BEVINGTON JR.

SHEET 3 [IF 6 INVENTOR.

BY ///a. /M /ZQMLM/ wzzmwmw ATTORNEY PATENTEDMAR 14 I972 3. 648 336 sum w 0F 6 RICHARD E. BEV|NGTON,JR. INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY PAIENTEBHAR 14 I972 3 v 648 336 SHEET 5 0F 6 RICHARD E. BEVINGTONJR. INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY PATENTEBMAR 14 I972 SHEET 8 BF 6 RICHARD E. BEVINGTON ,JR. INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY PORTABLE YARN HANDLING DEVICE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed to a portable yarn handling device that may be used to entangle or interlace a moving cabinet yarn end with a moving tow that may be comprised of one or more other cabinet yarn ends, and to sever the moving cabinet yarn end at the same time as and closely adjacent the entanglement.

In the manufacture of manmade fiber such as from polyester and cellulose acetate, to name only two examples, fiber is extruded or spun from a number of orifices in a continuous filamentary form from each cabinet of a series of aligned cabinets, with each cabinet yarn end, as termed, being formed of a number of continuous filaments and being joined with the other cabinet yarn ends of the cabinet series to form a running tow or tow band for subsequent processing.

Whenever a cabinet of the cabinet series is started up after having been shutdown for any number of reasons, it becomes necessary to join the cabinet yarn end with the tow that is already running in position without stopping the moving tow. It is impractical to stop the moving tow because each cabinet yarn end for cellulose acetate filter tow, for example, is being extruded at the rate of about 500 to 575 meters per minute, and if the tow were to be stopped, the cabinet yarn ends would spill out onto the floor. Therefore, the cabinet yarn end must be joined with the tow as it moves at this rate of speed, and the cabinet yarn end must also be moving at the same speed. Tows for other types of continuous filamentary manmade fibers may move at greater or lesser speeds. VEREL modacrylic tow may move at a rate of speed of 20 meters per minute up to about l50 meters per minute, depending upon the size of denier and other factors; KODEL polyester tow may move at a rate of speed of about 800 meters per minute to about 1,200 meters per minute, also depending upon the size of denier and other factors.

OPERATXON OF MANUAL TIE-UP The usual manner employed in joining a moving cabinet yarn end to a moving tow requires the operator to manually false twist the cabinet yarn end with the tow. The operation itself appears to be quite simple to the casual observer, but in reality requires a large amount of training, practice and proficiency on the part of the operator.

For instance, with respect to cellulose acetate filter tow, i.e., tow that will be subsequently made into cigarette filters, there may be 20 to 25 aligned cabinets from which cabinet yam ends are joined to form a moving tow that subsequently passes through a crimper and then through an oven for heat treatment prior to being fed into a baling apparatus to be compressed into a bale. Each cabinet yarn end comes out of a cabinet, passes over a lubrication roll, then over and around a godet roll, through one or more guides for subsequent conjoint movement with a running tow made up of other cabinet yarn ends.

The cabinet yarn end initially is being wrapped around the aforementioned godet roll as the roll rotates when the yarn end comes from the cabinet and over the lubricating rolls. The operator, by means of his doif stick, pulls a length of cabinet yarn end out from the godet roll, and forms a loop in the length and leads the loop over and around a series of guide pins in a downstream direction with the moving tow. The guide pins are also serving to guide the tow. An experienced operator then may grasp the tow at a location downstream several feet from the particular godet roll with his fingers and momentarily folds the tow in a direction transverse to the direction of tow movement, causing the cabinet yarn end at that same location to be folded in and false twisted with the moving tow. The cabinet yarn end is at the same time and location momentarily pinched causing the leg of the cabinet yarn end loop that is returning to the godet roll for subsequent disposition as waste to be snapped into two parts. The part of the leg remaining with the cabinet yarn end that has been false twisted with the tow follows as a tail doubled back over with the tow and causing a thickened place in the tow where the tail overlies and doubles back over the tow. The length of the tail depends upon a number of factors including the proficiency of the operator. Some tails may be several feet long. Some operators who are not as proficient are unable to use their fingers to produce a false twist, but may use two doffing sticks, one on either side of the running tow and then manage to pinch the cabinet yarn end along with the tow to cause the false twisting and subsequent break.

When the tow with the thickened place or area in it passes between closely spaced processing rolls such as crimper rolls, the thickened place acts like a knot to the crimper rolls because the rolls have been adjustably spaced only for the normal thickness of the tow. Therefore, when the crimper rolls encounter this extra thickness, their inertia prevents their moving up over the thickened area. The thickened place or area is thus caused to be crushed and pinched or rolled back, thereby causing a hole in the tow followed by a hard chunk of fused tow. The hole in the tow becomes more prominent as the tow is spread, as by passing through a banding jet. The site of the hard chunk of fused tow is quite undesirable in manufacturing cigarette filters, for example.

There are additional disadvantages that follow as a result of the manual tie-up or manually induced false twisting. The hole in the tow and fused chunks constitute what is commonly called a disturbed area" in the tow. The long tail itself presents a further problem, such as occasionally becoming snagged on guides and rollers causing breaks in the tow, or causing spinning machine roll breaks, due to roll wraps. The attendant waste of yarn from the breaks becomes accumulatively quite sizeable over the course of a years operation. Every break also means shutdown time until the break can be repaired or the tow put back on the line in proper operation.

For the customer purchasing the tow in bales, such as a cigarette filter manufacturer, the disturbed area in the tow may cause blowouts when the filter manufacturer attempts to make filter plugs. The blowout results when irregular areas in the tow are peeled back and are snagged in the entrance of a jet employed for making the filter plug.

The preceding discussion has been primarily directed to the manual tie-up of manmade continuous filamentary material such as cellulose acetate that will be used in making cigarette filters. Many of the consequences, such as roll wraps, machinery breakdown, and shutdown time are also true in the extrusion or spinning of polyester yarn and VEREL modacrylic yarn, to mention only two types of yarn. Other problems result with respect to these two types of yarn such as when the fused chunks are in yarn that is subsequently dyed, thereby resulting in nonuniform dye acceptance.

PRIOR ART At the present time there are not too many patents known that disclose joining running cabinet yarn ends with running tows. The few that are known would not be suitable or practical for use in joining cabinet yarn ends with tow to be used in the manufacture of filter tow, for instance. For example, the McDonald U.S. Pat. No. 2,648,890 discloses a tubular apparatus with a lengthwise slot through which running yarn may be introduced into the apparatus. A tangential air inlet pipe is provided near the inlet end of the tube so that upon release of a blast of air through the pipe the air will be caused to swirl around in the tube. This swirling action in turn causes the yarn end to be twisted tightly about the running tow. Then the yarn end is drawn against a cutting blade that is arranged near the outlet end of the tube so as to trim off the yarn end close to the running tow. A disadvantage of this arrangement is that the twisting of the yarn end, which itself usually contains a number of individual filaments, around the running tow, which also contains a number of separate yam ends previously combined, makes quite a wad of material or knot that is difficult to process in subsequent operations. Another disadvantage is that at the speed the tow and yarn end is moving, by the time the operator has led the yarn end against the cutting blade, a long tail of yarn end has been created, similar to that occurring in the manual tie-up, which tail moves with the tow but is not securely joined with the running tow. This also creates problems in subsequent operations, such as causing roll wraps, for instance.

Also, by the time the operator has, by means of a waste jet or aspirator, led the yarn end against the cutting blade, the tow with the twisted yarn end has passed well beyond the cutting blade. Thus, while the operator continues to hold the yet unsevered yarn end, it will tend to pull back upon the portion of the yarn end in the twisted area causing the twist to be stripped back to about one small location and thereby form a knot.

Another example of the prior art in the field in which this invention relates is the Wood et al., US. Pat. No. 3,380,135. This patent also discloses an apparatus by which a threadline is incorporated into a moving tow, by momentarily blowing an intermediate section of the threadline into the tow with a blast of fluid through jets, while substantially simultaneously severing the threadline at a point near the intermediate section by pulling the threadline down and across a cutting edge. The patentees explain that the fluid stream momentarily separates the threadlines composing the tow so as to enable the threadline to be forced into the interior of the tow by the fluid stream. A disadvantage of this arrangement is that the incorporated threadline is not securely attached to the running tow and may pull out during subsequent operations and/or cause roll wraps. Another disadvantage is the creation of a long tail and the undesirable consequences flowing from that, as explained above.

Still another disadvantage, applicable to both patents, is that by the time the operator has led a yarn end or threadline over and against a cutting edge, at the rate of speedthe yarn end is traveling, some of the filaments will be scraped back by the cutting edge and the filaments will not all be severed at the same location.

Inherent in both patented operations is the attendant waste created by the time the operator has led the yarn or threadline into the apparatus and then past a blade edge.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The aforementioned problems are obviated by the present invention wherein an object thereof is to provide a method, and an apparatus for practicing the method, by which a moving cabinet yam end of continuous filamentary material is entangled with a moving tow and is severed at the same time as and closely adjacent the entanglement so as to disperse the point of tie-up over a wide area. The result is that the area of the tie-up will be of reduced thickness, thereby minimizing the excessive pressure resulting from the tow passing between closely spaced processing rolls such as crimper rolls, and further minimizing the length of tail that results from the severing operation so that the tail is less than about 1% inches in length.

The apparatus for practicing the method involves the use of a portable yarn handling device for entangling a moving cabinet yarn end with a moving tow and for severing the cabinet yarn end at the same time as and closely adjacent the entanglement, the housing thereof having a leg portion extending downwardly from its lower surface with the forward and rearward faces of the leg portion each forming an extension of one of the walls of one of a pair of slots formed within the lower surface of the housing on either side of the leg portion, with one of the slots having knife means adapted to sever a moving cabinet yarn end as it passes therethrough, and the other slot having in one of the walls forming the slot orifice means through which impinging air streams may be emitted to entangle the moving cabinet yarn end with a moving tow as the tow passes through the slot, and the leg portion serving to guide the moving cabinet yarn end while it is being entangled and severed.

The portable yarn handling device will dependably couple two or more running yarn ends. Less operator skill will be required in joining a moving cabinet yarn end with a running tow. The device is capable of coupling yarn strands of high or low tension, or can couple a low tension yarn end into a high tension tow. The particular yam handling device is equally capable of coupling or joining cabinet yarn ends moving in either direction which means that the device will work equally as well on tow running toward the same direction but on either side of the same aisle. Operator safety is increased by use of the portable yarn handling device because there is less manual handling of yarn.

Other advantages include less possibility of fraying the tow at the point where previously operators were using doff sticks to manually false twist a running cabinet yarn end into a running tow.

Operators may be more easily trained by use of the method and device for practicing the method to make reliable tie-ups.

In addition to less damage being done to the tow as a result of the aforementioned fraying, there will be less disturbance of the tow so that the various yarn ends forming the tow will run parallel. In the instance of working with cellulose acetate, such yarn is more susceptible to breakage of filaments and any time the yarn is touched, breakage of filaments may occur, or lint or fly will result, whereas in use of the portable yarn handling device only the cabinet yarn end being joined will be touched by the device and not the running tow. Also, the use of the device in connection with cellulose acetate in making filter tow for cigarette manufacture, the aforementioned hole in the tow and long tail will be eliminated.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the drawings:

FIG. 1 illustrates the portable yarn handling device being manipulated by the hand of an operator, with the cabinet yarn end coming out of a cabinet and passing around a godet roll, and a loop of the cabinet yarn end formed around the leg portion of the yarn handling device preparatory to joining the cabinet yarn end with the tow running thereby;

FIG. 2 is a view somewhat similar to that shown in FIG. 1 but with the portable yarn handling device having been rotated by the operator and moved downstream a short distance from the location of the godet roll around which the cabinet yarn end to be joined is located;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to that shown in FIG. 2 but with the portable yarn handling device having been lowered over the running tow so that the tow is received within the entanglement slot of the device without the tow touching the device;

FIG. 4 is an elevation view of the portable yarn handling device with a portion of the device broken away and in cross section to illustrate the spring biased spool valve button, the ball piston, the orifice for the entangling slot, the movable knife blade relative to the shear slot prior to a shearing operation, and the spring against which the front edge of the movable knife blade engages;

FIG. 5 is a view similar to that shown in FIG. 4 but illustrating the operator having depressed the spool valve button and the ball piston having forced the movable blade across the shear slot against the biasing effect of the spring against which the front edge of the knife blade engages;

FIG. 6 is a fractional cross-sectional view taken along line 6-6 in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a portion of the portable yarn handling device to illustrate the travel of a loop of the cabinet yarn end with one leg of the loop being guided by the nose portion of the device and' the other leg of the loop being guided in the shallow groove of the entanglement slot with the cabinet yarn end shown as being flattened as it bears against an edge of the leg portion where the groove intersects one of the flattened surfaces at the base of the leg portion;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a portion of the portable yarn handling device with parts thereof being shown in an exploded view so as to illustrate the component parts of the knife blade means and the assembly of the knife assembly to the housing of the device;

FIG. 9 is a photograph of a section of tow illustrating the hole formed in the tow as a result of manual tie-up that was being practiced prior to the conception of the instant invention; and

FIG. 110 is a photograph of a section of tow illustrating the resulting appearance of the tow when the method and apparatus of the invention disclosed herein is employed.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In reference to the drawings, the portable yarn handling device llll has a housing 12. The housing in turn is provided at one end with a handle M of suitable length to enable an operator to grasp by hand, and adjacent the other end a leg portion l6 that extends downwardly from the lower surface of the housing. Forward of the leg portion is a nose portion 113 that serves to guide a running cabinet yarn end 26, such guiding operation being illustrated partly in FIGS. 11, 2 and 7.

The device lift is provided within the body of the housing 12 with an air passage 22, and the housing is suitably adapted to be connected to a source of air supply as shown by the air connection 24} at the rear of the housing in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3.

A pair of slots is provided within the lower surface of the housing, one on each side of the leg portion 116. The slot forward of the leg portion constitutes a shear slot 26 and the slot rearward of the leg portion constitutes an entanglement slot 2%. The shear slot has therewithin a knife assembly 30 for severing a running cabinet end upon being actuated. The entanglement slot is provided within one of the walls forming the slot with at least one aperture or orifice 32 through which impinging air streams may be emitted upon actuation to entangle a moving cabinet yarn end with a moving tow as the tow passes through the entanglement slot. The aperture or orifice is connected to the air passage 22.

As may be noted by observation of FIGS. Al and 5, for instance, the forward face 34 and the rearward face 36 of the leg portion 16 each form an extension of one of the walls of one of the pair of slots.

The leg portion 116 has a dovetail configuration with the beveled side surfaces 36 of the dovetail converging toward each other at the base of the leg portion, the base being where the leg portion joins the housing 12. The leg portion is also provided at the base of the beveled side surfaces with flattened surfaces ll) that are inset from the side surfaces 42 of the housing so that shoulders 44 are formed at the base. The leg portion is further provided at the base along the width of the rearward face 36 with a shallow groove 66 that intersects with each of the flattened surfaces ll The aforementioned aperture or orifice 32 is located within the groove.

When the running cabinet yarn end is looped around the leg portion, the beveled side surfaces 3% serve to guidingly urge the cabinet yarn end toward the base of the leg portion where it rides along the flattened surfaces 416 against the shoulders M and within the shallow groove T6. The running cabinet yarn end is caused to be flattened into a ribbonlike band as it is engaged against the corners of the leg portion where the shallow groove intersects with each of the flattened surfaces dill. The flattened surfaces serve to maintain the flat ribbonlike band character of the running cabinet yarn end, and the shallow groove also serves to maintain the running cabinet yarn end in desired position relative to the orifice 32.

The housing 12 has forward of the handle a finger guard portion 43 that extends from the lower surface of the housing. The forward surface 50 of the finger guard portion forms an extension of the forward facing wall of the entanglement slot 28, when air is emitted from orifice 32, it deflects from the wall extension causing turbulence and thereby aiding entanglement of the cabinet yarn end with the tow.

The knife assembly 36) comprises a movable knife blade 52 and a fixed knife blade 554i, the movable knife blade adapted to be moved across the shear slot 26 in the sliding missorlike relation to the fixed knife blade. The movable knife blade is disposed for movement within a recess 36 (HG. 6) that is defined by one half of the nose portion, and against the flat surface 56 (FIG. 6) that is defined by the other half of the nose portion, the halves of the nose portion being illustrated in lFlG. 3. The fixed knife blade is disposed within recess 66 (HG. d) that is located in the aforementioned other half of the nose portion. Recess 60 has in its face a bore 62 (W68. 6, d) within which is seated a spring 6d (FIGS. 6, fl) that serves to urge the fixed knife blade against the movable knife blade in order to obtain a good shearing of the running cabinet yarn end. Although the spring M could be eliminated when the portable yarn handling device is handling a manmade fiber such as cellulose acetate, it serves to a better advantage when cutting a more tenacious manmade fiber such as polyester yarn.

The movable knife blade 52 has a notched portion the forward edge 66 (FIG. 6) of which is sharpened to cooperate with the rearward edge 66 of the fixed knife blade 54 to perform the shearing operation. The leading edge '76 abuts against a spring 72 that is disposed within bore 74, and when the movable knife blade is actuated and caused to be moved across the shear slot, the leading edge compresses spring 72 which in turn upon deactuation of the movable blade, urges the movable knife blade to its initial position in preparation for the next shearing operation.

The movable knife blade at its rearmost edge 76 defines a cutout portion which is adapted to conform to the contour of the ball piston 76 that is disposed for movement within cylindrical chamber fill, the chamber being defined within the forward end of the housing 12. The cutout portion enables the housing forward of the entanglement slot to be reduced in length. The ball piston 78 constitutes a ball that is freely, movable and rotatable within the chamber and is therefore not subject to binding in the chamber in the event there should be any debris entering from the air supply. The cylindrical chamber hill is also connected to the air passage 22. The top edge 82 (MG. 8) and the bottom edge M (MG. 6) of that length of the movable knife blade that extends rearwardly of the recess 56 when the movable blade is in its initial position rides within and engages opposite surfaces of the wall defining the cylindrical chamber in the housing. When the ball piston 7b is caused to forcibly move the movable knife blade across the shear slot, the aforementioned top and bottom edges 32, he are guided by the wall of the chamber.

The means for actuating the impinging air streams and the knife assembly constitutes a spool valve button 36 located at the top of the housing and is adapted in turn to be actuated by the operator holding the device. The spool valve button in the unactuated position blocks off the air passage 22 (FIG. l), and when actuated by the operator, is moved downwardly against the upward biasing effect of spring 36 to bring the annular recess 96 formed in the spool valve in alignment with the length of the air passage 22. The air is thereby enabled to flow around the annular recess to the cylindrical chamber and to the aperture or orifice 32 for causing the shearing and entangling operations. The spool valve button is prevented from being forced out of the chamber 92 (FIG. 3) in which it is disposed by means of the fixed pin 94 extending through the elongated slot '96 formed in the spool valve button.

A weep orifice 9b: is provided at the lower end of the chamber 92 to enable escape of any air that might leak past the spool valve button into chamber 92 which otherwise might make it difficult for the operator to depress the spool valve button against the upward biasing effect of the air.

When the operator depresses spool valve button 86, annular recess 36 is aligned up with the air passage 22, as aforementioned, thereby enabling the air to flow around the spool valve button to the connecting cylindrical chamber 64) for forcing the ball piston 7% against the movable knife blade to cause the movable knife blade to move across the shear slot in a shearing operation and also at th e sa me time fiow out through the aperture 32 as an impinging air stream for performing an entangling operation.

OPERATION OF PROCESS When a cabinet yarn end is started up for bringing on the line, it is caused to be wrapped around a godet roll such as godet roll 100 shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, as the yarn end 20 emerges from the cabinet 102 (FIG. 1) located above the godet roll. As may be observed from the drawings, the running cabinet yarn end is brought down over the front portion of the godet roll and passes under the roll for subsequent wrapping therearound. Initially then, a wrap is being formed around the godet roll until such time as when the operator is ready to join the cabinet yarn end with the running tow 104. The operator may remove the yarn that has accumulated upon the godet roll by means of a doff stick, thereby forcing the accumulation of waste fiber over to the right, when viewing the cabinet from the front, to the necked-in idler portion 106 adjacent the roll. The necked-in idler portion turns freely with the godet roll but may be stopped by hand by the operator to cut away the accumulated waste fiber that has been moved there by the doff stick.

The operator next uses his dofi stick to pull out from the surface of the godet roll a loop of the running cabinet yarn end so that the yarn end is running from the cabinet, around the godet roll, around the doff stick, and back to the godet roll. The loop formed lies essentially in the same plane as the plane in which the godet roll lies. The operator guides the loop between the guide arms 108,110 on the ends out device 1 l2, slips the leg portion of the portable yarn handling device through the loop and removes the doff stick from the loop. Since the tow is running in a direction to the left, as when standing in front of the cabinet, the operator has, as shown in FIG. 1, rotated the device counterclockwise about 90 so that the leg portion 16 of the device points horizontally upstream of the moving tow and the slots open upstream. If the tow were to be moving in the opposite direction, as would be the case for a cabinet on the opposite side of the same aisle with the tow heading toward the same processing station then the portable device may be rotated clockwise about 90 or in the opposite direction so that the leg portion will point upstream of the moving tow.

As may be observed from FIG. 1, one leg of the loop is moving toward the leg portion of the device and is guided over the curved surface of the nose portion 18 for subsequent movement in a loop around the leg portion. As previously mentioned, the dovetail configuration of the leg portion causes the loop of the moving cabinet yarn end to ride toward the base of the leg portion.

The operator next manipulates the device so as to guide the leg of the loop that is moving toward the device around a tow guide pin 114 that is situated on the tow guide rail 116, and then moves the device slightly downstream of the moving tow and at the same time rotates the device about 90 clockwise so that the leg portion points downwardly (FIG. 2) and the slots open downwardly. The plane of the loop has thus been rotated about 90 from that of the plane of the godet roll.

As will be noted from FIG. 2, the leg of the loop moving in return to the godet roll is now being guided from the device against the curved surface of the nose portion. As the operator lowers the device over the running tow so that the tow is received within the entanglement slot 28 the operator takes care that the tow does not touch any of the sides of the entanglement slot so as not to damage the tow. The entanglement slot is now at a location that is lower than the ends out device but is higher than the nose portion with the result that the leg of the loop passing against the nose portion of the device is caused to slip into the shear slot 26 (FIG. 3). The top of the tow is running at the top of the entanglement slot, and the cabinet yarn end should be at the top of the shear slot and be in ribbonlike form.

The operator then momentarily depresses the spool valve button 86, thereby actuating the entanglement of the moving cabinet yarn and with the moving tow passing through the entanglement slot, and at the same time actuating the knife assembly 30 and shearing the cabinet yarn end at a location downstream from the entangling location. The severed free end of the cabinet yarn end returns to the godet roll 100 and is wrapped therearound along with accumulated waste that is subsequently removed by the operator to the necked-in idler portion 106 to be later removed by cutting away.

The length of the tail of the other portion of the cabinet yarn end between the location of severing and the location of entangling is thus very short or represents the distance from the location of the orifice 32 where entangling occurs, around one side of the leg portion to the location where the shearing occurs on the side of the leg portion opposite the orifice. The cutout portion at the rearmost edge of the movable knife blade, as heretofore mentioned, makes it possible for the housing forward of the entanglement slot to be made shorter, thus in effect also serving to shorten the resulting tail of the entanglement.

If the cabinet yam end is not at the top of the shear slot, then the operator should lower the nose portion of the device to assure that the yarn end is riding at the top of the shear slot. It is also necessary that before the spool valve button is depressed, the operator assure that the cabinet yarn end is running in a ribbonlike band so that when entangled and sheared the tow will be free of holes.

FIG. 9 illustrates a section of the tow 104 that has passed through crimping rolls after the operator had joined a cabinet yarn end to the tow by a manually false twisting operation. As may be seen at 118 a hole has resulted where the thickened false twist was pinched and caused to be rolled back as at 122 by the crimper rolls.

FIG. 10 illustrates a secfion of tow 124 that has passed through crimping rolls after the operator had joined a cabinet yarn end to the tow by use of the portable yarn handling device. The location where the cabinet yarn end was joined is shown at 126. Since the tow and the cabinet yarn end together have been dispersed over a wider area, the resulting thickness is only slightly thicker than the normal thickness of the tow in those areas where there is no entanglement. The resulting short tail folds back over the location of the tie-in or entanglement so that it essentially blends into the tow and becomes indistinguishable from the material that was entangled.

While the invention has been described in detail with particular reference to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scope of the invention as described hereinabove and as defined in the appended claims.

I claim: 1. The method of joining a moving cabinet yarn end to a moving tow, wherein the cabinet yarn end is moving from its source to and wrapping around a godet roll and it is desired that the cabinet yarn end pass around the godet roll for subsequent movement to and partly around a first guide means and then partly around a second guide means for conjoint movement with the moving tow, the method comprising the steps of pulling the moving cabinet yarn end out from the godet roll and forming a loop in which one leg of the loop moves from the godet roll and the other leg of the loop returns to the godet roll, and the plane in which the loop lies being essentially the same as the plane in which the godet roll lies; manipulating the loop relative to the first and second guide means so that the leg which is moving from the godet roll is guided partly around each of said first and second guide means, and then rotating the plane of the loop so that it is about from that of the plane of the godet roll;

lowering the loop, so that said one leg is moving from the godet roll, partly around each of said first and second guide means and then in the same direction and side by side with and closely adjacent the moving tow;

jetting a stream of air at a predetermined location against said one leg of the loop and against the tow closely adjacent to said one leg and thereby entangling a portion of said one leg with the running tow, and at essentially the same time cutting the loop downstream from the entanglement at a location where said other leg has started to return to said godet roll, whereupon the moving cabinet yarn end becomes joined with the moving tow for said conjoint movement therewith.

2. A portable yarn handling device for entangling a moving cabinet yarn end with a moving tow and for severing the cabinet yarn end at the same time as and closely adjacent the entanglement, said device comprising:

means for actuating the knife means for severing the cabinet yarn end and for actuating the air for entangling the moving cabinet yarn end with the moving tow. 4. A portable yam handling device adapted to join a moving cabinet yarn end to a moving tow as defined in claim 3 and wherein said housing further has forward of the handle a finger guard portion extending from the lower surface of the housing, the forward surface of the finger guard portion forming an extension of the forward facing wall of the entanglement slot and against which the air when emitted is deflected to cause turbulence and thereby aid entanglement of the cabinet yarn end with the running tow.

5. A portable yarn handling device adapted to join a moving a housing adapted to be connected to a source of air supply cabinet yarn end to a moving tow, said handling device having:

and defining therewithin an air passage; a housing adapted to be connected to a source of air supply a leg portion extending downwardly from the lower surface and defining therewithin an air passage;

of the housing; said housing having at one end a handle to be held by an said housing defining a pair of slots formed within the lower operator and at the other end a nose portion that defines surface of the housing on either side of the leg portion, on one side of the housing a curved surface adapted to said leg portion having forward and rearward faces each guide thereover a running cabinet yarn end, and interforming an extension of one of the walls of one of said mediate the ends a leg portion that extends from said one pair of slots; side beyond and adjacent the nose portion; one of the slots having therewithin knife means adapted to said housing further defining a pair of slots that open out on move across the slot when actuated to sever a moving said one side with the axis of each slot being transverse to cabinet yarn end as it passes through the slot, the slot the length of the housing and parallel to the axis of the thereby constituting a shear slot; and the other slot having other slot, one of the slots defining a shear slot and being in one of the walls forming the slot aperture means conlocated forward of said leg portion and the other defining nected to said air passage and through which aperture an entanglement slot and being located rearward of said means impinging air streams may be emitted when actu- 3O leg portion; ated to entangle the moving cabinet yarn end with a movsaid leg portion defining at its base along each of two oping tow as the tow passes through the slot, said other slot posite side surfaces thereof a flattened surface that exthereby constituting an entanglement slot; and tends along the width of said side surfaces and further means for actuating the knife means and the impinging air defining a shallow groove along the width of one of the streams. wall surfaces forming one side of said entanglement slot 3. A portable yarn handling device adapted to join a moving which groove intersects each flattened surface, said cabinet yarn end to a moving tow, said device comprising: groove adapted to receive and guide therewithin the mova housing adapted to be connected to a source of air supply ing cabinet yarn end;

and defining therewithin an air passage, and having at its said one of the wall surfaces of said entanglement slot rearward end a handle, and adjacent the forward end further defining an air outlet means that opens out within defining an entanglement slot and a shear slot, each exsaid groove and through which air may be emitted into tending into the lower surface of and through the width of said entanglement slot to entangle a running cabinet yarn the housing and being parallel to the other slot; end with a running tow passing through the entanglement a leg portion extending from the lower surface of the housslot;

ing between the slots and having a dovetail configuration the wall surfaces of said shear slot defining opposed with the beveled side surfaces of the dovetail converging openings and said shear slot having knife means adapted toward each other at the base of the leg portion where the to move through said opposed openings across the slot to base joins the housing, the forward and rearward surfaces sever a running cabinet yarn end riding within the shear of the leg portion forming extensions, respectively, of the slot; and forward facing wall of the shear slot and the rearward facsaid housing further having means adapted to actuate the ing wall of the entanglement slot; movement of said knife means and the emission of said air said leg portion defining at the base of the beveled side surupon being actuated by an operator holding the device.

faces flattened surfaces that are inset from the side sur- 6. A portable yarn handling device adapted to join a moving faces of the housing so that shoulders are formed at the cabinet yarn end to a moving tow, said device comprising: base, and further defining at the base along the width of a housing adapted to be connected to a source of air supply said rearward face of the leg portion a shallow groove that and defining therewithin an air passage; intersects with each of the flattened surfaces; said housing having at its rearward end a handle, and definsaid leg portion defining within said shallow groove aperture ing at its forward end a pair of slots, each extending means connected to said air passage and adapted upon through opposite sides of the width of the housing and actuation of the device to emit air therethrough; opening out on one side of the housing, one of the slots knife means within the shear slot and adapted when actubeing an entanglement slot and the other slot being a ated to move across the slot and sever a cabinet yarn end shear slot; when the cabinet yarn end is moving within the shear slot; a leg portion adapted to guide therearound a loop of a movwhereupon a moving cabinet yarn end upon being looped ing cabinet yarn end and being located between the slots around said leg portion is guidingly urged by the beveled and extending from and normal to said one side of the side surfaces toward said base to ride along the flattened housing and having beveled side surfaces converging insurfaces against the shoulders and is flattened into a ribwardly toward its base, and further having at its base flatbon-like band as it moves from a flattened surface to said tened surfaces that are inset from said opposite sides so shallow groove so that upon said actuation air is emitted that a shoulder is formed at the base on each of said op from said aperture means against said ribbon'like band to posite sides of the housing, the rearward face of the leg thereby entangle the band with a tow when the tow is portion defining an extension of the rearward facing wall moving through and within said entanglement slot, and of the entanglement slot and the forward face of the leg the severing of the cabinet yarn end occurring essentially portion defining an extension of the forward facing wall at the same time; and of the shear slot;

said rearward facing wall of the entanglement slot defining a shallow groove that extends across the width of the leg portion at its base and intersects with the flattened surfaces, said moving cabinet yam end as it moves around said leg portion being continuously urged by the beveled side surfaces toward said base for moving along the flattened surfaces against the shoulders and within the shallow groove and thus within the entanglement slot and the shear slot, the flattened surfaces and shallow groove serving to flatten the cabinet yarn end into a ribbon-like band;

said rearwardly facing wall of the entanglement slot further defining within the shallow groove opening means connected with said air passage and adapted upon actuation to emit air therethrough for entangling said band with a moving tow when the tow is riding within the entanglement slot along with the cabinet yarn end;

said forwardly facing wall of the shear slot defining an opening and said housing having a movable knife blade adapted upon actuation to move forwardly through said opening to the wall that defines the rearwardly facing wall of the shear slot, and said rearwardly facing wall defining an opening and having a fixed knife blade disposed within said opening and against which said movable knife blade moves in scissor-like manner upon said actuation; and

means for actuating the emission of air and the movement of said movable blade at essentially the same time.

7. A portable yarn handling device as defined in claim 2, said knife means comprising a fixed blade positioned on one side of the shear slot, and a movable blade positioned on the opposite side of the shear slot and adapted to move across the shear slot in sliding scissor-like relation to the fixed blade.

8. A portable yarn handling device as defined in claim 7, said means for actuating the knife means and the impinging air streams including:

wall means defining within the housing a cylindrical a ball piston positioned for movement within the chamber and in alignment with the rearmost edge of the movable blade and adapted to be driven by air pressure into forcing engagement with the rearmost edge of the movable blade to move the movable blade across the shear slot; and

means actuable by an operator holding the device and adapted to admit air through said opening in the one end of the chamber and thereby cause said ball piston to be driven into said forcing engagement with the rearmost edge of the movable blade.

9. A portable yarn handling device as defined in claim 7, and wherein said movable blade at its rearmost edge defines a cut-out portion adapted to conform to the contour of the ball piston. 

1. The method of joining a moving cabinet yarn end to a moving tow, wherein the cabinet yarn end is moving from its source to and wrapping around a godet roll and it is desired that the cabinet yarn end pass around the godet roll for subsequent movement to and partly around a first guide means and then partly around a second guide means for conjoint movement with the moving tow, the method comprising the steps of pulling the moving cabinet yarn end out from the godet roll and forming a loop in which one leg of the loop moves from the godet roll and the other leg of the loop returns to the godet roll, and the plane in which the loop lies being essentially the same as the plane in which the godet roll lies; manipulating the loop relative to the first and second guide means so that the leg which is moving from the godet roll is guided partly around each of said first and second guide means, and then rotating the plane of the loop so that it is about 90* from that of the plane of the godet roll; lowering the loop so that said one leg is moving from the godet roll, partly around each of said first and second guide means and then in the same direction and side by side with and closely adjacent the moving tow; jetting a stream of air at a predetermined location against said one leg of the loop and against the tow closely adjacent to said one leg and thereby entangling a portion of said one leg with the running tow, and at essentially the same time cutting the loop downstream from the entanglement at a location where said other leg has started to return to said godet roll, whereupon the moving cabinet yarn end becomes joined with the moving tow for said conjoint movement therewith.
 2. A portable yarn handling device for entangling a moving cabinet yarn end with a moving tow and for severing the cabinet yarn end at the same time as and closely adjacent the entanglement, said device comprising: a housing adapted to be connected to a source of air supply and defining therewithin an air passage; a leg portion extending downwardly from the lower surface of the housing; said housing defining a pair of slots formed within the lower surface of the housing on either side of the leg portion, said leg portion having forward and rearward faces each forming an extension of one of the walls of one of said pair of slots; one of the slots having therewithin knife means adapted to move across the slot when acTuated to sever a moving cabinet yarn end as it passes through the slot, the slot thereby constituting a shear slot; and the other slot having in one of the walls forming the slot aperture means connected to said air passage and through which aperture means impinging air streams may be emitted when actuated to entangle the moving cabinet yarn end with a moving tow as the tow passes through the slot, said other slot thereby constituting an entanglement slot; and means for actuating the knife means and the impinging air streams.
 3. A portable yarn handling device adapted to join a moving cabinet yarn end to a moving tow, said device comprising: a housing adapted to be connected to a source of air supply and defining therewithin an air passage, and having at its rearward end a handle, and adjacent the forward end defining an entanglement slot and a shear slot, each extending into the lower surface of and through the width of the housing and being parallel to the other slot; a leg portion extending from the lower surface of the housing between the slots and having a dovetail configuration with the beveled side surfaces of the dovetail converging toward each other at the base of the leg portion where the base joins the housing, the forward and rearward surfaces of the leg portion forming extensions, respectively, of the forward facing wall of the shear slot and the rearward facing wall of the entanglement slot; said leg portion defining at the base of the beveled side surfaces flattened surfaces that are inset from the side surfaces of the housing so that shoulders are formed at the base, and further defining at the base along the width of said rearward face of the leg portion a shallow groove that intersects with each of the flattened surfaces; said leg portion defining within said shallow groove aperture means connected to said air passage and adapted upon actuation of the device to emit air therethrough; knife means within the shear slot and adapted when actuated to move across the slot and sever a cabinet yarn end when the cabinet yarn end is moving within the shear slot; whereupon a moving cabinet yarn end upon being looped around said leg portion is guidingly urged by the beveled side surfaces toward said base to ride along the flattened surfaces against the shoulders and is flattened into a ribbon-like band as it moves from a flattened surface to said shallow groove so that upon said actuation air is emitted from said aperture means against said ribbon-like band to thereby entangle the band with a tow when the tow is moving through and within said entanglement slot, and the severing of the cabinet yarn end occurring essentially at the same time; and means for actuating the knife means for severing the cabinet yarn end and for actuating the air for entangling the moving cabinet yarn end with the moving tow.
 4. A portable yarn handling device adapted to join a moving cabinet yarn end to a moving tow as defined in claim 3 and wherein said housing further has forward of the handle a finger guard portion extending from the lower surface of the housing, the forward surface of the finger guard portion forming an extension of the forward facing wall of the entanglement slot and against which the air when emitted is deflected to cause turbulence and thereby aid entanglement of the cabinet yarn end with the running tow.
 5. A portable yarn handling device adapted to join a moving cabinet yarn end to a moving tow, said handling device having: a housing adapted to be connected to a source of air supply and defining therewithin an air passage; said housing having at one end a handle to be held by an operator and at the other end a nose portion that defines on one side of the housing a curved surface adapted to guide thereover a running cabinet yarn end, and intermediate the ends a leg portion that extends from said one side beyond and adjacent the nose portion; said housing further defining a pair of slots that open out on said onE side with the axis of each slot being transverse to the length of the housing and parallel to the axis of the other slot, one of the slots defining a shear slot and being located forward of said leg portion and the other defining an entanglement slot and being located rearward of said leg portion; said leg portion defining at its base along each of two opposite side surfaces thereof a flattened surface that extends along the width of said side surfaces and further defining a shallow groove along the width of one of the wall surfaces forming one side of said entanglement slot which groove intersects each flattened surface, said groove adapted to receive and guide therewithin the moving cabinet yarn end; said one of the wall surfaces of said entanglement slot further defining an air outlet means that opens out within said groove and through which air may be emitted into said entanglement slot to entangle a running cabinet yarn end with a running tow passing through the entanglement slot; the wall surfaces of said shear slot defining opposed openings and said shear slot having knife means adapted to move through said opposed openings across the slot to sever a running cabinet yarn end riding within the shear slot; and said housing further having means adapted to actuate the movement of said knife means and the emission of said air upon being actuated by an operator holding the device.
 6. A portable yarn handling device adapted to join a moving cabinet yarn end to a moving tow, said device comprising: a housing adapted to be connected to a source of air supply and defining therewithin an air passage; said housing having at its rearward end a handle, and defining at its forward end a pair of slots, each extending through opposite sides of the width of the housing and opening out on one side of the housing, one of the slots being an entanglement slot and the other slot being a shear slot; a leg portion adapted to guide therearound a loop of a moving cabinet yarn end and being located between the slots and extending from and normal to said one side of the housing and having beveled side surfaces converging inwardly toward its base, and further having at its base flattened surfaces that are inset from said opposite sides so that a shoulder is formed at the base on each of said opposite sides of the housing, the rearward face of the leg portion defining an extension of the rearward facing wall of the entanglement slot and the forward face of the leg portion defining an extension of the forward facing wall of the shear slot; said rearward facing wall of the entanglement slot defining a shallow groove that extends across the width of the leg portion at its base and intersects with the flattened surfaces, said moving cabinet yarn end as it moves around said leg portion being continuously urged by the beveled side surfaces toward said base for moving along the flattened surfaces against the shoulders and within the shallow groove and thus within the entanglement slot and the shear slot, the flattened surfaces and shallow groove serving to flatten the cabinet yarn end into a ribbon-like band; said rearwardly facing wall of the entanglement slot further defining within the shallow groove opening means connected with said air passage and adapted upon actuation to emit air therethrough for entangling said band with a moving tow when the tow is riding within the entanglement slot along with the cabinet yarn end; said forwardly facing wall of the shear slot defining an opening and said housing having a movable knife blade adapted upon actuation to move forwardly through said opening to the wall that defines the rearwardly facing wall of the shear slot, and said rearwardly facing wall defining an opening and having a fixed knife blade disposed within said opening and against which said movable knife blade moves in scissor-like manner upon said actuation; and means for actuating the emission of air and the movement of said movable blade at essentially the same time.
 7. A portable yarn handling device as defined in claim 2, said knife means comprising a fixed blade positioned on one side of the shear slot, and a movable blade positioned on the opposite side of the shear slot and adapted to move across the shear slot in sliding scissor-like relation to the fixed blade.
 8. A portable yarn handling device as defined in claim 7, said means for actuating the knife means and the impinging air streams including: wall means defining within the housing a cylindrical chamber, an opening at one end of the chamber adapted to admit therethrough air under pressure, and an opening at the opposite end of the chamber through which said movable blade may move therethrough for movement across the shear slot, the chamber being located on said opposite side and to the rear of the movable blade, a plane of the axis of the chamber being in co-alignment with the path of movement of the movable blade; a ball piston positioned for movement within the chamber and in alignment with the rearmost edge of the movable blade and adapted to be driven by air pressure into forcing engagement with the rearmost edge of the movable blade to move the movable blade across the shear slot; and means actuable by an operator holding the device and adapted to admit air through said opening in the one end of the chamber and thereby cause said ball piston to be driven into said forcing engagement with the rearmost edge of the movable blade.
 9. A portable yarn handling device as defined in claim 7, and wherein said movable blade at its rearmost edge defines a cut-out portion adapted to conform to the contour of the ball piston. 